To Myrna Ione Nelosn Pioneer Press letter Christmas Day. I have mixed feelings about the illegals, but deep down my feelings are mostly positive, even though I have a hard time admitting it. I go out of my way to have personal contacts with Mexican people and like to display my limited(Johnson High School)knowledge of the Spanish language. Some examples; Bueno dia senor (Good day sir), Usted esta muy bonita (You are very beautiful, this may get me in trouble) Yo hablar pequeno Espanol (I speak little Spanish).

Payne Avenue once dominated by Yohnson, Tenquist, Olofson and the Salvation Army band is now being revived by the many Latino people in the area and is showing positive growth. My former drug store location at Payne and Jenks is now Las Tapitas and my gradfather's location at Payne and Sims is now La Perla Tortelleria. With the recent addition of Phalen Boulevard and the presence of the Mexican Culture, Payne Avenue is on it's way back.

A young woman was about to finish her first year in college. Like so many others her age she considered herself a very liberal Democrat and for distribution of all wealth. She felt deeply ashamed that her father was a staunch Republican.

One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and more welfare programs. In the middle of hear heartfelt diatribe based on the lectures she had from her left professors at the school, he stopped her and asked her point blank, how she was doing in schiool.

She answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain. That she had to study all the time, never had time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't have time for a boy friend and didn't really have many college friends because of spending all her time studying. That she was taking a more difficult curriculum.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Mary?" She replies, "Mary is barely getting by," she continued,"all she has is barely a 2.0" adding "and all she takes are easy classes and she never studies." But to explain further she continues emotionally, "but Mary is so very popular on campus, college is for her a blast, she goes to all the parties all the time and very often doesn't even show up for classes because she is too hung over."

Her father then asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your 4.0 GPA and give it to your friend who only had a 2.0" he continued "that way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainley that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter visibly shocked by the father's suggestion angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair!! I worked really hard for mine, I did without, and Mary has done little or nothing, she played while I worked really hard!!"

The father slowly smiled and said "WELCOME TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY"

Editorial on Randy Kelly could have been written by only one of the four PP editors in captivity.I believe it was Editor Mark Yost who told everything in a true and accurate way, where the other three would have colored it differently.

Randy sez: Regarding his endorsement of President Bush in 2004, " I knew what a John Kerry presidency would mean for the United States, he would have cut and run (from Iraq) and greatly diminished America." And the election? "It was not a performance review. If it had been I would have won easily."

Yost sez; "Kelly likens himself to winston Churchill, who was the emotional and intellectual glue that held England together in the face of the German blitz and was almost immediatley turned out of office the moment World War II ended. Or Harry Truman who made tough decisions, such as dropping two atomic bombs on the unrelenting Japanese, recognized Israel and integrated the armed forces, but had low public approval ratings," enough to give him no chance of re-election in 1952. "History has judged their worth and I think history will judge mine", Kelly said.

One more comment by Randy: "I came into tjhis office with the firm belief I"d rather spend four years getting something done that eight years simply warming a chair."

Westover sez in his column Dec. 14, last paragraph. "Feeling that programs like Q Comp will significantly improve public education is dilusional. Until all schools are challenged by families, regardless of income, seeking out the best schools for their children, we are merely feeding the beast -- with our tax dollars and the futures of our children."

Another significant point made by former Milwaukee Superintendent of Schools Howard Fuller notes, "School choice is not the single answer to creating a world-class education system, but a world-class system will never develop without it."

As I see it school choice means school vouchers which are universally opposed by the teachers unions.

As I see it, tha anti-smoking zealots are a bunch of self righteous petty thinking individuals. Here's an example of their foolishness. Upon asking a representative of the American Lung Association the danger of second hand smoke, the answer was "it is more harmful than actually smoking". Another example, they want to ban smoking out of doors and in parks and playgrounds. Be reasonable.

We do need laws to control our behavior as evidenced by the many murders, rapes, robberies and etc. that are common occurences. Somewhere there is a fine line between protecting personal liberty and protecting us from ourselves I feel that the alleged damage done by second-hand smoke is greatly exaggerated and there are many studies done to prove either point of view. We have the choice to expose ourselves or not expose ourselves to second-hand smoke and I believe that we are bright enough to make that choice.

The harm they do to small business is way beyond reason. In St.Paul and Minneapolis bars and restaurants thay have experienced a 14 to 19 percent {plus or minus)drop in sales which is enough to put them out of business. The larger business wil need to increase prices to survive.

Politics is also involved in this kind of legislation. The conservative way is to ban legislation that unnecessarily tries to control our behavior, while the liberals want to act as big brother. The St. Paul city council is split with four Democrats and three Republicans and the non-smoking bill was split in exactly that order, Democrats for and Republicans against. Thankfully Randy Kelly knew enough to veto the bill.